For dearest Olga—who knows, loves and writes books—from a kindred soul with love and admiration. Ishbel Ross.

Christmas 1964, inscription in An American Family: The Tafts, 1678 to 1964.

For Olga Arnold—dear and understanding friend. Devotedly, Ishbel Ross.

Christmas 1967, inscription in Taste of America: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Architecture, Furnishings, Fashions, and Customs of the American People.

For dear Olga—I hope you will find this fun reading, if nothing more. Devotedly, Ishbel.

May 1969, inscription in Sons of Adam, Daughters of Eve.

For Olga Arnold—who may or may not like women doctors—but, anyway, Elizabeth was different! Ishbel Ross. October 11, 1949.

inscription in Child of Destiny: The Life Story of the First Woman Doctor.                             

These inscriptions are just several examples of the notes that author Ishbel Ross addressed to Olga Moore Arnold in books given to Arnold throughout their long friendship. The inscriptions hint at the friendship between the two women and also their relationship and respect for each other as authors as well.

The careers of these two women mirrored each other as both started as newspaper women. Both women knew from a young age that writing was important and something they aspired to spend time on during their career.

Olga Moore Arnold, writing as Olga Moore, published interviews, short stories, and essays featured on women’s pages in newspapers around the country and Ishbel Ross spent over a decade covering crime and trials in The New York Herald Tribune.

Both women turned from the newspaper to writing books with Ross gaining acclaim for her biographies of women including first ladies Julia Dent, Nellie Taft, and Mary Todd Lincoln, Clara Barton, Rose O’Neal Greenhow, and numerous women journalists. Arnold’s career shifted towards lobbying, but she continued to write pieces related to her work, but also published several books including her autobiography, I’ll Meet You in the Lobby and a novel titled Windswept.

Despite working in the same professional circles, it does not appear that Arnold and Ross met until during World War II. By the 1940s, Ishbel Ross had lived in New York City for many years, having moved to New York City in 1919 from her home in Scotland (with a brief time in Canada). She married journalist Bruce Rae in 1922 and continued working as a reporter until the early 1930s when she quit to raise their daughter.

Olga Moore Arnold’s journey to New York City took longer. She was born near Buffalo, Wyoming, and attended the University of Wyoming where she was the editor of the university’s newspaper, The Branding Iron, and advocated for a new library at the university. For Arnold, the writing and activism went hand in hand, and she later realized that “all roads led to lobbying” and championing various political causes. Olga Moore Arnold was married to UW Law professor Carl Arnold. In addition to Wyoming, they also lived in Washington, D.C. and after his death, Olga lived in D.C., New York City, Wyoming, and Europe and also traveled through the United States.

On St. Patrick’s Day in March 1943, Olga Moore Arnold began a new position in New York City as a features writer for the Office of War Information. As detailed in her autobiography, recently widowed Arnold left her lobbying position to take the OWI position. She spent time writing about each of her new coworkers in the office providing detailed descriptions of each’s personality.  She described Ishbel Ross in her autobiography.

We had Ishbel Ross, the pride of the division, blond, dimpled, and Edwardian, with a creamy Scotch complexion and violet eyes. She looked like a lace-edged Valentine and talked like a stiff snort of Scotch. She was a canny realist and a hard worker, her typewriter hummed smoothly all day long, its rhythm broken only at four in the afternoon by Ishbel’s need for a cup of tea.

Moore, I’ll Meet You in the Lobby, 164.

The women did not work together very long, but it appears to be the start of a friendship that continued through the 1970s, likely until the death of Ishbel Ross in 1975.

An October 31, 1937, article in the Casper Star-Tribune calls Olga Moore Arnold “one of the most eminent writers Wyoming ever has produced and numbered among the most popular fictionists of the day” but neither Arnold or Ross has biographies or longer studies of their work.

Both women used their work to highlight the importance of women, and copies of their publications are still available. Despite writing biographies (and in many cases the first biography) of several prominent women, contemporary sources only occasionally cite Ishbel Ross. Her seminal 1936 work, Ladies of the Press is still pointed to as a significant work on women journalists.

While the American Heritage Center only has the inscribed books from Ross in Arnold’s book collection, the mentions of Ross in Arnold’s autobiography help fill in the gaps of their friendship, especially in how they met and worked together. Another interesting link regarding Ishbel Ross and the AHC is found in the Grace Robinson book collection (the AHC also holds the papers of Robinson). According to a note from Grace Robinson in a copy of Ishbel Ross’s publication, First Lady of the South, Robinson and Ross were long-time friends and colleagues.

The book collection of Olga Moore Arnold, who passed away in 1981, is part of the Barratt family sub-collection in the Toppan Rare Book Library at the AHC. This collection was donated by the family in 2022.

Over the last year, my staff and I have prioritized collecting, cataloging, and publicizing the works by and collected by women. While we have always collected women’s book collections, there is still a great deal of work to be done talking about the works and lives of lesser-known women authors.

Post contributed by Dr. Mary Beth Brown, Toppan Rare Book Library Curator.